Posted on 12/12/2022 10:33:52 AM PST by Coronal
Former president Donald Trump’s legal effort to thwart a Justice Department investigation into classified documents seized from his palatial Palm Beach estate was officially tossed out Monday.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, after being rebuked by a federal appellate court for allowing Trump’s lawsuit to move forward, brought his controversial lawsuit to a halt after the court had ordered her to end it.
“This case is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” Cannon wrote in a one-page order released Monday. “The Clerk of Court shall close this case.”
At the beginning of the month, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Cannon had no authority to grant Trump’s request for an independent expert to evaluate thousands of documents that FBI agents took from his Mar-a-Lago residence on Aug. 8 to determine if any were off limits to the feds because of potential attorney- or executive-privilege protections.
The special master, a federal judge in New York, was supposed to report back to Cannon soon with his assessment of the documents as the Justice Department continued its probe of the classified documents that Trump took from the White House to his Palm Beach estate. Trump is under investigation by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., which is considering allegations of mishandling classified government documents, violating national security laws and obstructing justice.
But a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court threw out her Sept. 5 order allowing the special master to review the seized documents for potential privilege issues. The panel found that Cannon, nominated by Trump to the federal bench, had no authority to appoint the independent expert or even get involved in the former president’s suit after a West Palm Beach magistrate judge had properly approved a lawful warrant for the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
You’re forgetting (if you knew in the first place) that judges get lifetime appointments to the bench. They may be impeached, but they can’t be “fired”. Even if they could be, Trump does not have the power to do that. He is not and never was their “employer”.
Thanks. Trump has a clear case in most of those categories. #4 is the most ironic of all.
More corruption.
You seem to be parroting a standard that most liberal judges would agree with. What is the point of giving someone a job if they are not going to look out for your best interests?
That’s not what judges are supposed to do. Judges are part of the judicial branch, not the executive. They are not subject to the authority of the President. Separation of powers. A judge isn’t supposed to serve as an extension of their appointer.
Trump didn’t argue #1 at all, which was pretty much dispositive of the case. Trump conceded there was no “callous disregard” of his constitutional rights. The 11th Circuit correctly held that, without that, the other 3 factors don’t matter.
Even so, they evaluated them. For #2, Trump showed no individual need for the return of any documents, and for #3, Trump showed no irreparable harm.
For #4, Rule 41(g) provides for the return of unlawfully seized property.
The 11th Circuit got it right.
Are Trump’s lawyers scamming him?
Fascinating.
How on earth did his lawyers not argue there was callous disregard for his constitutional rights & the Constitution in general with regard to Presidential archives?
Thanks for your expertise
If you think that’s something, you should read what his lawyers filed in the 2020 election litigation.
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